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Lead-contaminated National Football League robot action toys seized at Seattle waterfront

SEATTLE— Just in time for the frenzy that surrounds the Super Bowl, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers and Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) investigators have seized two container loads of lead-contaminated toys at the Seattle waterfront. The 2,932 cartons, containing 17,592 NFL Team Cleatus Robot Action Figures, were seized January 12th for containing six times the allowable amount of lead.

The toys are valued at more than $96,000; they originated in China, and were destined to a distributor in the Seattle area.

The toys were targeted by CBP staff for an intensive examination, in which samples were taken from the shipment. The samples were tested by CPSC, and were found to contain unacceptable levels of lead in violation of the Federal Hazardous Substances Act. Laboratory analysis found the toys contained 1800 parts per million (ppm) of lead; the acceptable level is just 300 ppm.

“While our priority mission is to prevent terrorists and their weapons from entering the country, we are also responsible for keeping a wide variety of harmful products from reaching the American marketplace,” said U.S. Customs and Border Protection Area Port Director Roland Suliveras, Jr. “Lead-contaminated toys are one such product”.

CBP works with CPSC to prevent hazardous or harmful products from entering U.S. ports and reaching American consumers. In fiscal year 2009, at ports of entry across the country CBP, in coordination with CPSC, seized multiple shipments of lead-contaminated toys with an estimated domestic value of more than a million dollars.

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